The Departments have not done enough to reduce the number of people excluded from the schemes. The Departments still do not have a complete assessment of the number of people excluded from the first phase of CJRS and SEISS up to the end of October 2020, but the best estimate suggests that it may have been as many as 2.9 million workers. The extension to the schemes announced by the Chancellor in November was not accompanied by any substantial changes to the design of the schemes that would likely reduce the number of people who are excluded this time round. The more time moves on, the greater the potential number of newly self- 6 Covid-19: Support for jobs employed people that might be excluded from SEISS. The scheme continues to be based on 2018–19 tax return data submitted to HMRC by 31 January 2020—despite the fact that the 2019–20 tax year ended in April 2020 and many self-employed workers and employees who slipped through the net because of the short term nature of their employment contracts will already have submitted their 2019–20 tax returns. HMRC has also not considered whether it could use other data sources across government. Recommendation: HM Treasury and HMRC should investigate whether more data within and outside of the tax system could be used to determine eligibility for currently excluded groups and write to the committee within six weeks to explain their findings. HM Treasury and HM Revenue and Customs should liaise with departments which have a detailed knowledge of the affected sectors in order to improve access to Covid-19 related support schemes for currently excluded groups.